Before Michael Hitchcock ended up in Billings last fall, he had a wide, varied career in the business world.
The Wisconsin native said he managed several fast-food restaurants in the Midwest, ran a machine shop, went into mechanical design, worked in China as a project manager for an import company, ran his own import-export business and even wrote a book about using business strategies to achieve personal happiness.
His experiences taught him that businesses fail for a reason: they don’t adapt, get too big or ignore the competition. The same goes for the traditional movie industry.
“Hollywood’s struggling because they’re cranking out the same old shit,” he said.
It relies on remake after remake, formula after formula, then hedges its bets by dumping tens or hundreds of millions of dollars into one film, always hoping for a blockbuster. That leaves an opening for small, independent filmmakers, Hitchcock said.
“You see an industry being disrupted by independents,” he said.
Michael Hitchcock
That’s why he jumped at the chance when an old Army buddy invited him to move to Billings to make a movie.
David Bulkley is a native of Wyoming, born on a remote ranch in the Sheridan-Buffalo area. He and Hitchcock roomed together while serving in the Army in South Korea 25 years ago.
Both of them liked to write and they collaborated last year on a children’s book. Bulkley had worked as a nurse in Montana and Wyoming for more than 20 years but had long thought of giving the movies a try.
He really got inspired by “Way Darker Than You Think,” a made-in-Billings zombie-comedy-guns-and-gore movie that was released in 2011.
“I’ve always wanted to be in the movies,” Bulkley said, so he called Hitchcock last fall and they kicked around some ideas. “Finally, we’re like, let’s just do it,” Bulkley said.
Bulkley’s initial idea was that they would collaborate on a screenplay, but Hitchcock had already written a few on his own. One that he was particularly proud of, and which had been improved by critiques from two directors, followed by extensive rewrites, was “The Writer’s Ghost.”
That screenplay, about a successful writer who learns that her new house is occupied by a spirit who seems benign at first but grows increasingly aggressive, became their joint project, the object of their shared dream.
So Hitchcock and his teenage son moved to Billings from the Midwest and are staying at Bulkley’s home in Billings. Bulkley spends most of his time in North Dakota, where he is working in the Bakken oil patch. He plans to take a couple of months off to make their movie.
They’ve gotten a lot done since the fall. The company they formed, P210 Productions, conducted a contest to find a director for their film, inviting applicants to shoot a short trailer based on Hitchcock’s screenplay. They chose Douglas Guarino, of Boston, whose trailer, Hitchcock said in a press release, “completely captured the feel of the original script.”
Guarino also brought in Gia Franzia, a Los Angeles producer and actor who will be helping with the production. Paul Black, who used to sing with LA Guns, is going to write an original score, Hitchcock said. Local musicians, including Wes Urbaniak and the bands Endever and Omnithex , will also contribute to the soundtrack.
Hitchcock and Bulkley chose their cast after three auditions were held. Most of the actors are local, but two are coming from Los Angeles. Hitchcock and Bulkley recently rented a house outside of Billings, where most of the movie will be filmed, and they plan to shoot scenes on city streets and inside a couple of local businesses as well.
Their ambitious plan is to start production on April 3 and wrap up filming by April 28. They opened a Kickstarter campaign to raise $8,000 and figure they’ll need $11,000 to $15,000 in all. That may sound tiny — like one-day catering costs on a big production — but keep in mind that “The Blair Witch Project” was made for something like $35,000 and grossed nearly $250 million.
Hitchcock’s not expecting anything quite that big, but he has high hopes for this made-in-Billings project.
“You don’t get anywhere with small dreams,” he said.
Details: “The Writer’s Ghost” Movie Soundtrack Showcase, featuring the music of Wes Urbaniak and the bands Endever and Omnithex, is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. on April 5 at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co.’s Garage Pub, 2123 First Ave. N.
And what’s with the name of the production company? Hitchcock explained that he and Bulkley shared Room 210 during their Army days in Korea. “P” stands for “Pilgrims.” They were famous for throwing great parties and somehow they became known as the Pilgrims of Room 210.
“We registered the company in Montana as Pilgrims of Room 210 Productions LLC, doing business as P210 Productions LLC,” Hitchcock said.
